Epic

Epic – The First Semester never quite becomes the sweeping romance its title promises. Instead, it settles into something smaller and, at its best, more affecting: a collection of memories, arguments, songs and silences that captures young love as a series of moments that slowly become a life together.

Epic – First Semester is a love drama that is passable in parts, with decent performances from Anand Deverakonda and Vaishnavi Chaitanya. However, the film is let down by its writing, repetitive narrative and lack of progression, with the emotional payoff arriving too late to make a significant impact.

Epic - First Semester is a bold attempt by director Aditya Hasan, and the film feels natural in several places. However, the story does not move beyond Aditya and Kadali's relationship, while the narration is slowed down by lengthy conversations and repetitive scenes. The excessive dragging is a major hurdle to the film's flow.

After a promising first half, the film gets into a monotonous zone and gets tedious to sit through. The overreliance on telling a personal story as it happened without adding enough drama, worked against the film. You may give it a try for some sensible writing and a few good moments in the first half but it definitely is not what the audience expected from Aditya Hasan's debut feature film.

The film takes an issue that may be seen only in a limited section of society and presents it as something widely relatable. Rather than feeling like a realistic portrayal of young people living abroad, the film often gives the impression that we are watching the struggles of a deliberately cinematic couple in London. EPIC: First Semester leaves the audience with similar questions.

EPIC – First Semester deals with emotional dysregulation in a relationship, but the drama doesn't build it effectively. The film struggles with writing inconsistencies and uneven emotional engagement, and after a promising start, it loses steam.